newest SW VA boondoggle

[VHSLhelper 571]

http://bdtonline.com/editorials/x480664034/Road-construction-Tazewell-project-holds-potential

 

"The current distance from Claypool Hill to I-81 in Abingdon and Wytheville is 44 miles and 70 miles respectively. The distance from Claypool Hill to I-81 along the proposed new corridor would be 30 miles therefore reducing travel times and costs, the report said."

 

Let's say this new road goes to Exit 39 in Chilhowie. From there to the current road to Claypool Hill in Abingdon, Exit 14, is 25 miles, and in Wytheville, Exit 72, is 33 miles. So the new distances to Abingdon and Wytheville will be 55 and 63 miles respectively. This saves a whopping SEVEN miles to Wytheville and ADDS 11 miles to Abingdon. Yep, that'll REALLY help draw new businesses in, since there's no empty spaces along 81/77/19/460... right?

[GMan 3,569]

All it is is an easier escape route for those wanting to leave the area...same with the upgrade of Rt. 52 to I-73...we're on a road to nowhere...

[Deleted Account 5,203]

http://bdtonline.com/editorials/x480664034/Road-construction-Tazewell-project-holds-potential

 

"The current distance from Claypool Hill to I-81 in Abingdon and Wytheville is 44 miles and 70 miles respectively. The distance from Claypool Hill to I-81 along the proposed new corridor would be 30 miles therefore reducing travel times and costs, the report said."

 

Let's say this new road goes to Exit 39 in Chilhowie. From there to the current road to Claypool Hill in Abingdon, Exit 14, is 25 miles, and in Wytheville, Exit 72, is 33 miles. So the new distances to Abingdon and Wytheville will be 55 and 63 miles respectively. This saves a whopping SEVEN miles to Wytheville and ADDS 11 miles to Abingdon. Yep, that'll REALLY help draw new businesses in, since there's no empty spaces along 81/77/19/460... right?

 

You're missing the point. It doesn't matter that the impact on travel time is negligible. What matters is that businesses LOVE interstates, and I know for a fact that businesses have refused to come to Tazewell County simply because there is no interstate. Bring in the interstate, and businesses will be more likely to come, travel times be damned.

 

I do agree, though, that this is probably the least feasible interstate option of any I've heard. Unless you loop the interstate back down along Route 19 to Abingdon, creating in essence an I-81 loop, it seems silly to just have a spur like that.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

http://bdtonline.com/editorials/x480664034/Road-construction-Tazewell-project-holds-potential

 

"The current distance from Claypool Hill to I-81 in Abingdon and Wytheville is 44 miles and 70 miles respectively. The distance from Claypool Hill to I-81 along the proposed new corridor would be 30 miles therefore reducing travel times and costs, the report said."

 

Let's say this new road goes to Exit 39 in Chilhowie. From there to the current road to Claypool Hill in Abingdon, Exit 14, is 25 miles, and in Wytheville, Exit 72, is 33 miles. So the new distances to Abingdon and Wytheville will be 55 and 63 miles respectively. This saves a whopping SEVEN miles to Wytheville and ADDS 11 miles to Abingdon. Yep, that'll REALLY help draw new businesses in, since there's no empty spaces along 81/77/19/460... right?

 

At least there is someone trying to do something to help the area. Something has to be done. If we continue down the same path of doing nothing, then we will keep getting the same results.

[Hacker 82]

My jaded point of view is that this is a politician trying to make hay on something he knows will never happen. Play to the constituents that you are doing something productive. Depending on how involved the PER was on this someone ponied up tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. I wonder what public trough this came from.

 

Del. Morefield even stated that this is a project that will not be built in the foreseeable future. So why study it now?

[deuceswild 15]

Good to see Chilhowie in the news for something other than meth.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

 

Del. Morefield even stated that this is a project that will not be built in the foreseeable future. So why study it now?

 

Because it has to start somewhere. I'm sure any project of this magnitude would take SEVERAL years from the preliminary studies, to the first signs of any work being done.

 

BTW, I hope you're wrong about Del. Morefield. But, I can certainly see why you would be skeptical. I voted for him because he is young, and I really thought he would bring some new ideas to the table, and hopefully change things for the better.

[VHSLhelper 571]

ummmmm, sorry to say, but I'm pretty sure I heard "talk" about this back in the late 70's, so this isn't new or sudden.

 

And I'm wondering how far/close this would be to that "fast-track" community down there.

 

You're missing the point. What matters is that businesses LOVE interstates, Bring in the interstate

 

WHAT interstate? Nothing was said about an interstate.

Edited December 24, 2010 by VHSLhelper

[deuceswild 15]

You're missing the point. It doesn't matter that the impact on travel time is negligible. What matters is that businesses LOVE interstates, and I know for a fact that businesses have refused to come to Tazewell County simply because there is no interstate. Bring in the interstate, and businesses will be more likely to come, travel times be damned.

 

I do agree, though, that this is probably the least feasible interstate option of any I've heard. Unless you loop the interstate back down along Route 19 to Abingdon, creating in essence an I-81 loop, it seems silly to just have a spur like that.

 

 

I fail to see how this would directly attract business. Chilhowie has been beside the interstate for 60 years... all of the businesses that it brought in during the 60's and 70's, got right back on it and left in the 90's.

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/apr/19/business/fi-chilhowie19

 

 

I'm with G-Man, its more of a fast track out than in.

 

I hope it helps though, I really do.

[Hacker 82]

Having set in VDOT road hearings through the 80's and 90's the project that used to get requested was from 19 over to Saltville. Another one was to improve the road from Elk Garden to Meadowview/Emory. County's historically request projects that never see construction for a myriad of reasons. The one that frustrated me the most to watch was when the Transportation Board added projects to the 6 Year Plan with no monies to build them.

 

I found the article from the LA Times informing. The same thing is true of the Carbide plant in Ivanhoe, the textile mill in Fries, or any mining community. We are just pawns in the global economy.

[sandman 13]

Quoted from the LA Times article, page 1.

 

 

Chilhowie has lived through several cycles of industrial boom and bust. Situated in the Great Valley of the Appalachians, near the point where Virginia bumps up against North Carolina and Tennessee, its first big employer was Virginia Paving & Sewer Pipe Co., which shipped its bricks "from Lynchburg to London" until its vein of clay ran out in 1910. Chilhowie Lumber Co. had its run too, supplying logs to build the Panama Canal before bankruptcy intervened.

 

 

 

 

 

So companies went out of business before globalization? I'm shocked.....shocked I say!

[deuceswild 15]

Quoted from the LA Times article, page 1.

 

 

Chilhowie has lived through several cycles of industrial boom and bust. Situated in the Great Valley of the Appalachians, near the point where Virginia bumps up against North Carolina and Tennessee, its first big employer was Virginia Paving & Sewer Pipe Co., which shipped its bricks "from Lynchburg to London" until its vein of clay ran out in 1910. Chilhowie Lumber Co. had its run too, supplying logs to build the Panama Canal before bankruptcy intervened.

 

 

 

 

 

So companies went out of business before globalization? I'm shocked.....shocked I say!

 

Yeah, maybe 1 or 2 per decade.

 

The 90's had 10 or more.

[Lance 228]

they should ust run a new branch and call it I-481 or something and run it from Abingdon to Grundy so all the transplants can get home faster.